BCC to work I still with WCC

by John Carey THE British Council of Churches will continue its policy of working in close partnership with the World Council of Churches despite the storm of controversy over the recent grant made by the World Council's Programme to Combat Racism to the Rhodesian Patriotic Front.
The policy was endorsed at the BCC's annual assembly this week after a lengthy debate, the mood of which was summed up later by Dr Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of Canterbury who said' "I'm glad that the resolution as a whole was passed, but I think that the strictures on the WCC's handling of it have reflected a feeling of great uneasiness revealed in the correspondence of us all."
The resolution said that the grant raised no new issue of policy which should alter the
current position. But it expressed concern over "the way in which decision about PCR grants are made communicated and received." It also said the internal settlement was failing because it was not acceptable to the people of Rhodesia as a whole.
Perhaps the most surprising element of the debate was the strong feeling against the grant expressed by delegates from Ireland. Dr Coggan commented that the significance of their comments was strengthened by the fact that "they had seen violence at first hand and we haven't."
• The Catholic Justice and Peace Commission in Rhodesia has described the recent moves by the transitional government to abolish racial discrimination as "timid, and late and not an answer to the country's problems". They would only benefit a small number of Africans, the Commission said.